Vladimir Pehtin, a leading member of Putin's United Russia party, was forced to resign the State Duma. He had failed to declare ownership of real estate in Miami. Putin stalwarts have rarely suffered penalties for these types of infractions.
Pehtin's transgressions and the undeclared assets of many other members of the Duma were actually exposed by bloggers who have been designated as the “public's investigative journalism”, a fresh positive phenomenon. Liberal Moscow journalist, Konstatntin Eggert, who has visited Estonia on numerous occasions has remarked that the information on the power elite's financial worth and life style has been an agent of change in Russian society. A children's cancer hospital in Petersburg that was threatened to be closed remained open. The mayor of Zukovskis, near Moscow was forced to resign after lying about a highway built through a popular forest.
Putin this week signed into law fairly stern anti-smoking legislation. This was a very non-Russian thing to do. As of July 1st smoking will be banned in nearly all public buildings, government buildings, universities, train stations etc. Forbidden is also cigarette advertising. The law was passed in spite of the determined lobbying by the international tobacco producers.
Jaanus Piirsalu, correspondent of Päevaleht in Moscow, has said that the Western media constantly tend to carry more of the negative news from Russia. He reasons: stories depicting the bad from Russia have higher “selling power” in the West. This doesn't apply only to Russia, but also to most foreign countries. Foreign based stories usually add up to a larger volume than items covering domestic affairs but compete for a smaller portion of the media's news output. In addition the content of negative news attracts greater interest than positive. In Estonia this is compounded by the general assumption that hardly anything good ever happens in Russia.
Piirsalu points out that Russia has a relative abundance of problems and news actually reflects the Russian reality. Also the news that typically reaches the West reflects the news that's carried by Russian media. It's seldom the case that the negative stories carried by Western media haven't already appeared in Russia.
Piirsalu summarizes a few socio-political trends in Russian: After a brief period of slight liberalization, the Kremlin is tightening its grip. Political opposition leaders are being prosecuted. The media is being stifled, although with much subtler methods than before. The promised economic modernization is nowhere apparent. In fact the opposite is the case with the state budget even more dependent on oil and gas revenues, reaching 50% of the state's intake. The previously assured privatization of state owned industry has been postponed, foreign investments have decreased and capital leaves the country for more lucrative destinations. The ordinary citizen suffers from escalating municipal costs (in some locations a rise of more than 200% during the past 12 months), the rapid increase in gasoline and foodstuffs and in spite of all the promises, the widespread rise in the level of corruption.
Combating these negative aspects of life, Piirsalu adds some more positive items to list: Adding greatly to the feeling of satisfaction in Russia, the Bloomberg report placed Russia in the 14th spot on its international innovation index. Estonia placed 31st, trailing Russia with countries such as Great Britain, Canada, Switzerland, Australia. Bloomberg took into account some very specific items and internationally the placement did not arouse much attention.( The annual innovation index prepared by Cornell University has much greater international impact and Estonia was placed in the 19th spot with Russia rated as 51st . In other international innovation ratings Russia is usually placed in an even lower position.)
A development that should be good news for Estonia is Russia's economic growth. Since Russia is now Estonia's third largest trading partner (after Finland and Sweden), Russia's economic growth in 2012 of 3.4%, as compared to Eurozone's average of –0.4% should boost import-export activity between the two countries. (Observers say that Estonia should never become too complacent with or dependent on trade with Russia considering the Kremlin's impulsive political climate and its longing to restore control of the “near abroad”.)
A healthy change in media coverage, although not necessarily “good news”, is the coverage of violence against and abuse of children, a topic that has been avoided for years. The death of a Russian child adopted into the USA spurred attention to the problem. (A future column will detail that incident and related developments.) Approximately 20 adopted Russian children have died in the last two decades in the USA. Although horrendous, these statistics pale in comparison with occurrences in Russia itself. Every year some 300 children die in Russian adoptive homes. About 2000 children per year perish as a result of violence at the hands of parents. These are painful facts, previously quashed that now are made public.
Piirsalu, an astute veteran observer of the Russian scene has described trends and their coverage by the Russian media. Time will tell if the power elite is responsive to these developments or they continue adhering to a policy of societal control. Either way Estonia is bound to be affected.
Laas Leivat
